The invention relates to font selection for printers. In prior printer subsystems, different fonts have ordinarily been provided for printing images in several languages. However, selection of the fonts has been on a somewhat limited and highly selective basis. That is, it has been customary for any individual printer subsystem to have only one or several fonts available and these are usually prewired into the system for each individual customer. The customer has not been able to expand the range of languages or special symbols that he might require during normal printer operations without extensive reworking of the font selection means, a service call, and the like. Where font selection has been available, the storage required for the fonts has been rather extensive.